Since 1977, I’ve been testing recipes on my beloved husband. All of the recipes on my blog have been Husband-Tested in my kitchen using ingredients I purchase at our community-owned grocery store, Lost River Market & Deli and also at the Orange County HomeGrown Farmers Markets in the beautiful hills of South Central Indiana. I do this as a hobby on a volunteer basis. I LOVE TO COOK!

Friday, May 13, 2016

Pesto Pasta Salad

Serves 4-6

Husband-Tested
Recipe from Alice Wootton

This is one of those
clean-out-the-fridge recipes I made one day that turned out quite good. I used
the vegetables that I had in my refrigerator at the time, but you could
certainly use other vegetables and even add some cooked chicken.Pesto is packed with summery flavor.It’s quite easy to make homemade pesto if you
have a food processor. Pesto can be made in advance and put in the freezer.
This makes a lovely side dish or a lunchbox main dish. (I served it as a side
for dinner along with Turkey Meatloaf.)

Bring a
large pot of water to a boil.Add 1
Tablespoon of Kosher salt to the boiling water.Add the pasta and cook according to package directions. (Set a timer.You will add the carrots to the pasta water
when the pasta is almost done.)Meanwhile,
scoop the pesto into a large bowl. Prepare the vegetables by slicing or
chopping. Set aside the chopped carrots (or other dense vegetables you wish to
add to the salad.)Put the scallions,
tomatoes, cheese, spinach and cucumbers in the large bowl with the pesto.When there is 4 minutes left on the timer for
the pasta, add the carrots to the pasta pot. This will cook the carrots a bit
so that they are tender.When the pasta
is done, drain the pasta/carrot mix in a colander.Immediately add the hot pasta/carrot mix to
the large bowl. Allow the pasta to soften/melt the pesto a bit (just about a
minute) and then toss the salad well so that the pasta and vegetables are well
coated.Add Kosher salt and freshly ground
pepper to taste.Serve as a main dish or
as a side.

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Brought to You by Lost River Market & Deli

To find all the ingredients for these delicious recipes, stop by Lost River Market & Deli, located at 26 Library Street in Paoli, Indiana. For a map and more information about the co-op, visit http://www.lostrivercoop.com/.